Nation & World Glance
Rouhani: Iran will enrich uranium to ‘any amount we want’
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s president warned that Tehran will increase its enrichment of uranium to “any amount that we want” beginning on Sunday, putting further pressure on European nations to save its faltering nuclear deal and offer a way around intense U.S. sanctions.
President Hassan Rouhani’s threat, combined with Iran surpassing the stockpile limits of the 2015 atomic accord, could narrow the estimated one-year window it would need to produce enough material for a nuclear weapon, something Iran denies it wants but the deal sought to prevent.
But as tensions rise a year after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the deal, it looks unlikely that Europe can offer Iran a way to sell its oil on the global market despite U.S. sanctions.
All this comes as the U.S. has rushed an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers and F-22 fighters to the region and Iran recently shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone. “Be careful with the threats, Iran. They can come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten before!” Trump tweeted in response to Rouhani’s warning.
On Wednesday, Iran also marked the anniversary of the U.S. Navy shooting down an Iranian passenger jet in 1988, a mistake that killed 290 people and shows the danger of miscalculation in the current crisis.
Dem front-runner Biden trails Buttigieg in fundraising total
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden has raised $21.5 million since launching his White House bid in late April, his campaign said Wednesday. While Biden’s haul will put him in the top tier of Democratic fundraisers, he lags behind Pete Buttigieg, a 37-year-old Indiana mayor who was virtually unknown a few months ago.
Buttigieg’s campaign announced earlier in the week that he posted an eye-popping $24.8 million secondquarter haul — a stunning sum for any candidate, let alone one who is so new to the national political stage.
Biden’s fundraising numbers underscore that he is a fragile front-runner. He sits atop most early polls and will have the money he needs to compete aggressively throughout the primary. But his standing as the party’s elder statesman hasn’t scared off his rivals, and it’s clear voters are still open to other options.
Funeral held for detective who fought for 9/11 victims
NEW YORK — A former police detective who fought until his final days for the extension of health benefits for Sept. 11 responders was hailed as a hero Wednesday by family, fellow officers and political figures who pledged to advance his message.
“These heroes responded to calls for help. They did not hesitate; That’s who they were and still are,” Police Commissioner James O’Neill said at the funeral for Detective Luis Alvarez, 53. “He and they viewed their efforts as an obligation that they promised long ago to the people we serve.”
Alvarez’s life was “a testament to American heroism,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said outside the Immaculate Conception Church.
For many of the mourners, the loss also was a deeply personal one.
“Before he became an American hero, he was mine,” said Alvarez’s son, David.
No prosecution for Alabama woman who was shot, lost fetus
BESSEMER, Ala. — An Alabama district attorney said Wednesday she is dropping the manslaughter charge against a woman who lost her fetus when she was shot during a fight.
Marshae Jones was arrested last week after a grand jury concluded she intentionally caused the death of her fetus by initiating a fight, knowing she was pregnant.
Jones was five months pregnant when 23-year-old Ebony Jemison shot her in the stomach during a December argument over the fetus’ father, authorities said.
Jemison was initially charged with manslaughter, but a Jefferson County grand jury declined to indict her after police said an investigation determined Jones started the fight, and Jemison ultimately fired in self-defense. Jones, 28, was indicted by the same grand jury and arrested.
But Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff District Attorney Lynneice O. Washington said Wednesday that she would not pursue the case.
Jury sentences Navy SEAL for posing with Iraq war casualty
SAN DIEGO — A decorated Navy SEAL acquitted of murder in the killing of a wounded Islamic State captive in Iraq but convicted over posing with the corpse was given a demotion by a military jury Wednesday after the Bronze Star recipient acknowledged making ethical and moral mistakes.
Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, 40, was also handed the maximum penalty for the offense of four months in confinement, though he will serve no jail time because it is less than the time he spent in custody before the trial.
After the court announced the sentence includes a reduction in rank, Gallagher turned to his wife, shook his head and pretended to unpin his “anchors” — the insignia of a chief — and fling them across the courtroom. He then smiled and hugged her.
The sentence will not go into effect until it is approved by the commanding officer overseeing the courtmartial.
Gallagher’s lawyers said they plan to appeal the punishment that will affect his pension and benefits just as the 19-year veteran plans to retire from the service.